Q: New iMac 27inch screen flickering/tearing/shutoff

I got my 27inch mac last week and my screen is flickering as well...
It doesn´t happen the same way everytime... looks something aleatory... I can be 5 hours without any problem, and the next time it´ll flickr 10 times every 5 minutes (example)...

I´m wondering... if I finally get a new one... will it happen as well? Any experience?

thanks!

pd: just to let you know it also happens in Spain

Joeliu- that is interesting and I have heard that a few times on here though it is hard to track who it didn't work for. While that might be possible being something that simple I have trouble believing aplle would accept all of those back and do so many replacements for such a simple fix. That doesn't make much sense from any standpoint to me. That sounds like they would only serveto make the problem seem much worse leaving people in the dark. Just my nickel.

Btom2010-I do but to be honest I didn't mostly do to time today.

Speaking of today, I replaced the LCD and the display cable. So far in the little testing I can do it has been fine. The real proof will be over the next couple of days and weeks. I wish I only did one to narrow it down better but had both parts and figured why not.

I have a week 49 i7 27-inch iMac, 4 gigs of memory. I got the screen flicker once, about 5 minutes after the very first time I woke the iMac up from sleep. It didn't go away until I put the iMac to sleep, then woke it up immediately. Hasn't been back since, but I am waiting for it to.

I also have a slight yellow tinge towards the bottom of the screen, but it doesn't bother me... well within tolerances for a screen of this size.

I have now had my 27inch iMac i7 for 5 days. The only time it showed the flickering/blacking out issue was on the morning of day 2, after waking it from sleep. After about half an hour I rebooted and haven't seen the problem since then! (Despite waking it from sleep each morning and heavy use --12+ hours -- per day every day)

I have to think that this problem is very intermittent and may be present in many/all iMacs but only reveals itself in specific (but not too uncommon) circumstances. Whether that be software combination or temperature or solder quality or who knows.

I haven't logged a call with Apple yet but will do so soon just so that there is a record of the problem. However, I don't think I'll rush to get a replacement unit right away as there seems to be no guarantee that a replacement will be any better, until Apple can confirm it.

Cheers,
Chris

Yeah, I am in the exact same boat as you Chris M., I'll log the problem, but rolling for a replacement is like Russian Roulette it seems.

It is. I took my Week 45 i5 back because it flickered four times in the span of a week. I'm waiting this out for now. I think I'll wipe my G4 Mac mini and install 10.5, that should help me hold out until the next revision comes out in May/June. Hopefully then I can get an i7 for the same price as a current i5 (maybe with a Radeon 4870, please?).

I'm disappointed that Apple still hasn't identified the problem. I fear that they are underestimating this issue and have the "1 in 10,000" mentality. While I believe a small minority have frequent flickers/blackouts, I feel like a sizeable number, perhaps more than half of the units, have an occasional flicker here or there like mine did. Some users on this thread are on their 3rd or 4th replacement, all of which show this problem, and others. If I were you, I'd get a refund and wait this one out.

I have to state my personal experience with the infamous screen flicker. After two weeks I started having a screen flicker. I rebooted off the DVD drive and the flicker disappeared. I then erased the hard drive and reinstalled Snow Leopard and haven't had a problem since. People who are obsessed with what week iMac they have are, I think, overreacting. Some people experience hardware problems and others experience software problems. In my case it is clearly the latter. Hope this helps.

My i7 replacement (second i7) is now 11 days old. No problems until today. No flickering thus far, but I did get the vertical lines shifting/tearing the menu bar down about 5 or 6 inches and putting the dock at the top. Had to reboot to fix it. Looks like I need to send this week 47 unit back as well....

BIll

I had a 2007 20" iMac and after a power surge from a storm the screen started flickering/tearing like the problems described here. I'll bet the current problem is a transformer/power supply issue.

Bill......

The next time the screen tears, and the menu bar appears mid screen, try putting your display to sleep, then waking it.

It clears mine up every time.

I have expose set to put the display to sleep by moving the cursor to the lower left hand corner. When the screen splits, the bottom corner appears about three or four inches from the top. You have to watch the upper part of the screen to make sure your cursor reaches the corner.

Even when the screen is split, everything works perfectly. It has happened to me several times while rendering video, and the finished video shows no defects. I've even changed desktop pics while it was split.
There may not be a need to reboot if just putting the display to sleep for a few seconds clears the problem.

I'm waiting for my replacement to ship on Dec 22 before I give this one up.

Even with the flickering/splitting/dead optical drive, it's still a heckuva machine.

*Finally, the problem seems to be addressed by Apple.*

+*"We have received several reports from Apple resellers that all shipments of 27" iMacs have been delayed by 2 weeks as Apple is in the process of replacing the graphics card. The shipment time on the Apple Store has also been changed to say "Ships 2 weeks". Some people also are reporting that they are being advised their projected ship dates are being pushed back.*+

*It is uncertain whether this hardware issue affects all 27" iMacs and a recall will be necessary."*

That's not a direct quote form Apple though is it? That reads like third party information.

But even so, good news.

krissmi wrote:
*Finally, the problem seems to be addressed by Apple.*

+*"We have received several reports from Apple resellers that all shipments of 27" iMacs have been delayed by 2 weeks as Apple is in the process of replacing the graphics card. The shipment time on the Apple Store has also been changed to say "Ships 2 weeks". Some people also are reporting that they are being advised their projected ship dates are being pushed back.*+

*It is uncertain whether this hardware issue affects all 27" iMacs and a recall will be necessary."*

Can you please post a link to the source of this quote?

From the conversation I had with AppleCare yesterday they were still not officially acknowledging anything. I was trying to find out from the guy who's handling my case who I have been 'escalated' to if Apple had come back with any diagnosis or information regarding the screen flicker and likely solution. Whilst he seemed to be choosing his words carefully his official answer was a definite no. He promised he would chase up engineering and let me know when he knew. He did try to reassure me that it would be sorted - just not sure when - and that I won't be forever stuck with a flickering iMac.

Edit: Whoops, this should have been in response to krissmi

Message was edited by: Paul_31